6of6Esteban Strohl-DeHerrera of Sacramento hangs out on Howard Street during the How Weird Street Faire.Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

Donning a mix of colorful tights, feathers, capes, glitter and Victorian-era costumes, thousands gathered around Howard and Second streets in San Francisco on Sunday to celebrate their weirdness.

The annual How Weird Street Faire — a blend of the Pride Parade, Bay to Breakers, Burning Man and Coachella — marked its 20th year. The event, which featured nine stages for musical acts, sprawled over several blocks and cost $20 at the gate.

The theme of the fair this year: “Time Warp: A Love Story.” It called for people to “come as the you you’ve always wanted to be,” as long as they were paying tribute to the 1980s or the 1880s.

Attendees navigated a maze of vendors beckoning them to psychic readings, cannabis education, and booths that sold crystals, jewelry and clothing. Passersby not heading to the fair hardly batted an eye — weird is normal in San Francisco.

For Tiffany Ros, who came down from Mendocino with her partner and daughters, Keeva, 7, and Illyssa, 4, the event lived up to its lovable weirdness.

“We like taking the kids to stuff like this so they can get used to the art, music and different sorts of people so they’re more cultured when they’re older,” Ros said.

She was dressed in bohemian-style tights and a lime-green crop top, with a third eye painted on her forehead.

“It’s not really a costume. I’m kind of a weirdo like this all the time,” she said.

A man identifying himself as “any pope you want me to be” dances on Second Street during the How Weird Street Faire.

Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

One of the few partygoers who paid homage to the 1880s, Sierra DeBlonk, was in town from Sacramento to celebrate her 20th birthday.

“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate,” she said. “I’ve always really loved the time and style of the 1880s. I could care less about the 1980s.”

DeBlonk wore a bottle-green Victorian-era skirt, which she said she made; a ruffled white blouse; a black jacket; and laced black boots. A few others dressed in steampunk costumes and gathered around artifacts that sat in the middle of the fair.

Even Emperor Norton made an appearance — well, the person who dresses as him these days. Joseph Amster, a local guide, gives tours in character as the San Francisco man who proclaimed himself emperor of the United States in 1859.

“Besides keeping Norton’s legacy alive, for me, it’s important to have the Weird Faire,” Amster said. “We’re a weird city. We should celebrate and embrace it every chance we get.”

A How Weird Street Faire attendee waits at the portable restrooms.

Photo: Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

The fair was founded by Brad Olsen 20 years ago, when he lived in a warehouse on Howard Street, between 11th and 12th streets, called the Consortium of Collective Consciousness. It was a small space for artists where events were held. As the popularity grew, Olsen, with the help of a generous donation, took the fair to the streets.

In its first year, it saw about 1,000 attendees, and last year the numbers were around 20,000, Olsen said. He is also co-founder of the World Peace Through Technology nonprofit, which puts on the How Weird Faire. Fifty-one percent of the festival proceeds go to the nonprofit, and the other 49%, he said, goes toward donations focused on education for underprivileged kids in the Bay Area. Last year, they donated around $35,000 to various organizations, he said.

But the core theme of the event is to maintain a culture in a place that has nurtured weirdness.

“We maintain a sense of weirdness and creativity that San Francisco seems to be losing now,” Olsen said. “We are the bearers of weirdness at a time where there’s very little of it left.”

Shwanika Narayan is a business reporter at The San Francisco Chronicle where she covers retail and logistics. She was previously a reporter with the Los Angeles Business Journal where she wrote about manufacturing, retail and trade. Prior to that, she worked as a freelance video producer at AJ+ covering general news, her freelance work also includes writing for NBC News, Quartz and Hyphen magazine on Asian American identity. Shwanika has a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia Journalism School and a bachelor’s degree in political science from UCLA.